Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Dissolve the yeast in warm milk and water to remove bitterness.
Mix the yeast with flour to a consistency between batter and paste, adding a little salt.
Beat the mixture well for half an hour.
Whip the egg whites to a high froth and gradually add them to the mixture, beating for five more minutes.
Let the batter stand overnight.
Bake
Shape the muffins lightly and bake them on a stove or in an oven.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Yeast
- Ferments the batter so the muffins rise and become light and airy.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the risen batter together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Whipped whites trap air in the batter, adding lift and a lighter texture.
The step that matters
Whipping the egg whites to a high froth. Whites under-whipped won't hold air and the muffins will be dense. Adding them gradually keeps the foam from collapsing into the batter.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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